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In the lower Manhattan neighborhood of NoHo, the crowded area around Lafayette Street was once called Gasoline Alley because of the many auto shops and gas stations housed there. While New York is still crowded with cars, gas stations in Manhattan are now more rare (there are none today in Gasoline Alley, only one left in all of lower Manhattan.) But off of Lafayette, theres a new kind of space-inspired gas station that reveals the future of fuela future in which we power vehicles across land, air, and sea with CO2 instead of fossil fuels. The Fuel Store is an immersive concept store by AirCo, a Brooklyn-based startup that turns captured CO2 and hydrogen into synthetic fuels. Most people dont think about their fuel all that much, or dont know that there are options other than fossil-fuel derived gas. The Fuel Store is meant to introduce people to AirCos technology, and paint a possible future where CO2 powers everything from motocross bikes to jets to spaceships. [Photo: AirCo] Previously called Air Company, AirCo has turned captured CO2 into all sorts of consumer products, including vodka, hand sanitizer, and perfume, since it was founded in 2017. In 2024, AirCo raised $69 million in a Series B round, and the company also has a $65 million contract with the Department of Defense; its raised over $100 million in total, according to Pitchbook. With just under 120 employees, it’s lab and R&D operations are located in Brooklyn. Recently its been focusing on fuel, because thats an industry where it can have substantial impact. It’s one of the hardest industries traditionally to decarbonize, says cofounder and CEO Gregory Constantine. Transportation is the largest contributor to the U.S.s greenhouse gas emissions, accounting for 28% of all direct emissions. Globally, aviation alone counts for 2% of the worlds greenhouse gas emissions. [Photo: AirCo] AirCo instead uses CO2a greenhouse gasas a feedstock. It combines that CO2 with hydrogen to create fuels through a process that runs on renewable energy. Though AirCo declined to share how much CO2-derived fuel it currently produces, it does have partnerships with multiple companies for the use of its sustainable aviation fuel, called Airmade. In 2022, JetBlue signed an intent to purchase 25 million gallons of Airmade over five years, and Virgin Atlantic signed an intent to purchase up to 100 million gallons over 10 years. The company has also has partnerships with Boom Supersonic, and the U.S. Department of Defense. For the government, AirCo has worked on projects for land, air, and sea transportation. [Photo: AirCo] The Fuel Store showcases these different developments. When you first walk in, you see a shiny chrome gas station in the center of the rooman AirCo branded awning over sleek, futuristic pumps. A motocross bike is attached to one pump, meant to represent the freedom to roam, just like how AirCos fuels can be made either in remote locations or in cities. Along the walls are a series of products designed to tell different aspects of AirCos story, and the future of fuel the company envisions. [Photo: AirCo] On one shelf are hard-shell suitcases decorated with modern travel stickers, one of which reads, “My plane is on an air-based diet.” The climate impact of transportation has led to some travel shaming, Constantine says, but he adds that travel is a part of life. Through its work making sustainable aviation, AirCo is making travel less objectionable, he says. [Photo: AirCo] Next to the suitcases are vintage Air Force bomber jackets, adorned with new AirCo patches. In April, AirCo fuel partnered with the Air Force for the first-ever unmanned flight powered by CO2-derived jet fuel. AirCos synthetic fuels are 100% compatible with current aircrafts, unlike hydrogen, which requires new engine designs. [Photo: AirCo] On the other side of the store are life vests made of recycled signal flags, a nod to the companys successful tests with the Navy to use Airmade for marine vessels. (These tests powered boats while also emitting less visible smoke in the exhaust.) The signal flags themselves mean urgent and full speed, echoing the companys perspective on its mission to decarbonize fuel. Above the life vests are dry bags made from upcycled sails, an ode to how sailboats, powered by air, were once the dominant form of sea traveland how air, through AirCos CO2 fuel, could power future marine vessels. Objects like the motocross bike, a mini toy AirCo fuel truck, and vintage Army T-shirts screen-printed with an image of a Polaris MRZR tactical vehiclewhich AirCo successfully powered with its CO2-derived fuel through tests at West Pointshowcase AirCos fuel use on land. [Photo: AirCo] And finally, the Fuel Store also hints at AirCo going into space. One wall features a conceptual Mars helmet and workwear suit. These imagine a future where the red planets atmospherewhich is 95% CO2could be harvested to power spacecrafts, rovers, and habitats. AirCo also has a long-running partnership with NASA. A lot of the work that we do with groups like NASA is to try to prove out that we can produce a fuel not only here on Earth made from CO2 but potentially, in the long-term future, up on Mars, so that we can bring astronauts back, Constantine says. AirCo also created bacon, egg, and cheese space food, a nod to the classic New York City sandwich and the companys home base. [Photo: AirCo] Each of these products has tags that explain their connection to AirCos larger story. Though these items wont be for sale at the Fuel Store, they will be available via auction online after the concept stores run is over. That auction will help fund AirCos research and development. Visitors will be able to purchase AirCo merch like T-shirts, socks, and some of the stickers that appear on the luggage (including ones that read honk if you love unlimited feedstocks and Make love, not CO2). [Photo: AirCo] The Fuel Store will be open to the public from April 30th to May 3rd at 55 Great Jones Street, New York. Constantine hopes the concept store is ableto shed light on AirCos technology, and the hopeful future it envisions. Educating people about the future is a tricky challenge, but it can be an inspirational one, he says. The origins of fuel, and these new technologies like fuel made of CO2, can be foreign to people, but the store puts them in an immersive world full of that technologys use cases. What we’ve tried to do here, Constantine adds, is to show what the future can look like in a way that others haven’t been able to do.
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E-Commerce
To most visitors, Hobokens ResilienCity Park might look like a normal (if rather upscale) park, complete with a large lawn for lounging, a playground, a basketball court, and an athletic field. But hidden in plain sight, the park has another purpose: keeping two million gallons of rainwater off of Hobokens streets by storing them in a giant underground tank. The parkand others like itis one of the main ways that Hoboken has transformed from a city devastated by Hurricane Sandy to one that, today, tends to recover from major rain within a matter of hours. Now, experts think New York City could use parks to follow Hobokens lead as extreme weather continues to worsen the citys flood risk. [Image: courtesy Rebuild by Design] According to a study published today by Rebuild by Design, an organization dedicated to using design solutions to solve complex urban problems, 70% of NYC parks will be flooded by 2100. The report comes on top of another recent study from the Regional Plan Association (RPA), which found that, by 2070, as many as 82,000 housing units in and around NYC could be lost due to flooding by 2040, and the number could double to 160,000 by 2070. Amy Chester, director of Rebuild by Design, believes that Hobokens example could help NYC protect both its parks and its housing by turning green spaces into a form of storm management. [Photo: courtesy Rebuild by Design] How Hoboken’s parks keep its streets dry In 2012, Hurricane Sandy flooded 80% of Hoboken, took out its power grid for two weeks, and cost the city $110 million in damages. In a recent talk shared to Rebuild by Designs YouTube, Caleb Stratton, the citys chief resilience officer, said that it was a wake-up call for the city of Hoboken. The following year, Rebuild by Design was started as a design competition to promote resilience in regions that had been affected by Sandy. At the time, Chester says, cities were blindsided by both Hurricane Katrina and Hurricane Sandy: We didn’t really understand resilient infrastructure as we do now, she says. [Photo: courtesy Rebuild by Design] That was especially true for Hobokenwhich, despite its coastal location and long history of flooding, had almost no flooding mitigation infrastructure in place, Chester says. Hobokens proposed rain resilience project was one of Rebuild by Designs six winning submissions, and over the last decade or so, the city has used more than $660 million from various sources including the United States Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD), the state of New Jersey, and FEMA to implement new flooding protection measures. [Photo: courtesy Rebuild by Design] Hobokens flooding resilience project includes several different levers. To keep floodwaters out, its building a 9,000-foot-long series of preventative seawalls, gates, and levies. Its also updating its sewer system with more flood pumps to move water out of storage quicker during heavy rain. And, its keeping streets dry by increasing above and below ground water storage. Thats where resiliency parks come in. So far, Hoboken has completed construction of three resiliency parks and a series of waterfront parks, with several more parks currently under construction. Each of these parks uses green infrastructure on its surfaceslike pervious pavers and rain gardenswhich funnel water underground into holding tanks, keeping it out of the crowded sewer system and preventing overflows. [Photo: courtesy Rebuild by Design] The ResilinCity Park, the largest of the existing parks, can hold two million gallons of water, enough to collect runoff from 20 surrounding blocks during a notable rain event (typically defined as more than a half inch of water falling in a 24-hour period), Chester says. A large chunk of that water is kept in the parks underground tank, while some is held in other clever wayslike a sunken basketball court with a capacity to hold more than 100,000 gallons. In all, the existing parks can hold a total of 4.2 million gallons of water. It’s different from green infrastructure, because green infrastructure is on top of the park, and that stops the park from flooding. This is pumps and storage that stops the entire neighborhood from flooding, Chester says. We’re really interested in doing this all over New York City and in any urban areas where there are neighborhood parks, because if you’re a couple blocks away from a park, that park could be the storage option for your community and keep the floodwaters out of your basements and out of your streets. Rebuild by Designs data shows that, in 2022 and 2023, Hobokens new rain resilient infrastructure led to an 88% reduction in flooding events. In practice, that meant that across 121 storms, noticeable flooding only occurred 14 times. In September 2023, when Hurricane Ophelia led to thigh-deep water in Brooklyn and flooded subway cars in NYC, Hoboken was noticeably dry. Projects like thesewhich plan not just for seawater flooding, but also for excessive rainfallare increasingly important as climate change ushers in rising sea levels, and as record-warm ocean temperatures lead to more intense annual storm seasons. According to the RAPs recent analysis, NYCs existing infrastructure is not prepared to account for the coming decades of flooding damage, which is expected to impact as many as 1.6 million New Yorkers by 2040. Chester thinks resiliency parks could be the first step toward preparing the city for whats ahead. [Image: courtesy Rebuild by Design] Why NYC’s parks could help keep residents safe from flooding Rebuild by Design’s new NYC park analysis maps all of the city’s 2,385 parks based on their current and future flood risk. Users can search the interactive map to view the parks in their own neighborhood, or filter for todays flood risk and flood risk by 2100. The map is also color-coded based on FEMAs social vulnerability index (or the susceptibility of social groups to the adverse impacts of natural hazards) and the heat vulnerability index, as parks provide the added benefit of reducing urban heat. The tool shows that 38% of parks are currently in flood zonesa number that’s expected to surge to 70% by 2100. While these statistics may seem alarming, Chester sees them as an opportunity. We’ve mapped all of the floodplain in New York City and parks to see where [resiliency parks] could potentially be a solution, Chester says. We were able to show that 38% or 900 parks in New York City are currently on top of a flood plain. Interesting. Then if you look to the 2100 flood plain, it’s 70% of parks. That’s when we were like, Oh my goodness. This could be really incredible to be thinking about this on a neighborhood-by-neighborhood basis.’ Of all of NYCs parks, Chesters team has identified 177 sites that would benefit the most from a resilient makeover, based on both their flood risk and heat vulnerability. To make this happen, Chester says, the parks would have to be fully rebuilt to construct underground tanks that would pump water off of nearby streets, like the ResilienCity examplewhich is why we need to start now, she adds. If every time the parks department upgraded a park, they rebuilt it this way, we could have a major headstart in addressing flooding across NYC neighborhoods, Chester wrote in a follow-up email to Fast Company. All of Hobokens flood infrastructure was built in the past decade (after Sandy.) These parks are, admittedly, a major investment. ResilienCity, for example, cost $80 million, while the smaller Southwest Resiliency Park (which can hold about 200,000 gallons of water in its cistern) cost $12 million. However, Chester explains, pitching resiliency parks as flood protection can help to draw in new streams of federal and state funding. Parks manage 14% of the Citys land, but only about 0.6% of the City budget over the past 40 years, far below the national standard of 12% allocation of a municipalitys budget, the Rebuild by Design interactive map page reads. Parks offer immense potential to draw down federal and state funds, including programs from FEMA, HUD, and state funding. If the City were to recognize parks as vital infrastructureas it does highwaysand properly invest in upgrading and maintaining its parks, these public spaces could protect and save lives and save billions of dollars. For now, Rebuild by Designs NYC proposal is just that. But Chester believes that, if Hoboken could implement successful resilient infrastructure in just a decade, theres no reason that other cities cant do it themselves. We’ve been working on this for a little while now, but like, it’s such an incredible model for urban areas nationally, because a majority of urban areas have neighborhood parks, and theyre these smaller areas that can be doing a lot more things, Chester says. None of these parks existed in Hoboken before, and Hoboken is not a city with a lot of money.
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E-Commerce
Efficiency standards for home appliances were once the conversational equivalent of beigeneutral, but aggressively uninteresting. But as political polarization has deepened, dishwashers, laundry machines, showerheads, and other household staples have begun to take on a new charge. With Republicans now in control of the White House and both houses of Congress, rules that quietly save Americans money on utility bills while conserving energy and water are suddenly at risk. Earlier this month, President Donald Trump doubled down on his long-standing complaint about low-flow showerheads taking too long to clean his beautiful hair. He ordered his administration to repeal a rule, revived by the Biden administration, that aimed to save water by restricting flow from the fixtures. A White House fact sheet promised the order would undo the lefts war on water pressure and make Americas showers great again. Its part of a growing movement targeting efficiency standardslast year, House Republicans passed bills including the Refrigerator Freedom Act and Liberty in Laundry Act, though neither succeeded in the Democratic-led Senate. Now in charge of both houses of Congress, Republicans have already passed a resolution to repeal a recent energy-efficiency standard for gas-powered tankless water heaters, which awaits Trumps signature. Efficiency standards used to have bipartisan support. But today, many Republican politicians see restrictions on gas stoves, refrigerators, and laundry machines as symbols of Democratic interference with peoples self-determination. Thats the idea Trump advanced when he signed an executive order targeting efficiency standards for home goods and appliances to safeguard the American peoples freedom to choose. The message echoes talking points from industry groups that have an interest in keeping homes hooked up to natural gas for stoves and water heaters. This isnt the first time that weve seen efficiency standards thrust into the culture wars, said Andrew deLaski, the executive director of the Appliance Standards Awareness Project, which advocates for stricter energy-efficiency legislation. But President Trump has put that into overdrive. The push for more efficient appliances began in response to the fuel shortages sparked by the 1973 oil crisis. Republican President Gerald Ford signed the bipartisan Energy Policy and Conservation Act in 1975, laying the groundwork for the government to set standards on household appliances. But state laws for more efficient appliances came first, forcing manufacturers to navigate a patchwork of rules. So Congress set nationwide efficiency standards for water heaters, air conditioners, dishwashers, and many other household appliances with the National Appliance Energy Conservation Act in 1987, signed by another Republican presidentRonald Reagan. Congress continued to expand those standards with bipartisan support in 1992, 2005, and 2007. In total, the Department of Energy now oversees standards for about 60 categories of appliances and other equipment in homes and businesses, spanning toilets to commercial refrigerators. In January, the pre-Trump Department of Energy estimated that these rules, taken together, saved the average U.S. household about $576 a year on their bills. They also cut national energy use by 6.5% and water consumption by 12%, making them a key tool for addressing climate change and drought. Voters are broadly supportive of energy-saving policies, with 87% of Americans polled by Consumer Reports in March agreeing that new home appliances should be required to meet a minimum level of efficiencyincluding 82% of Republicans. People arent clamoring for products that needlessly waste energy and money, deLaski said. Despite broad popularity, there have been flare-ups of pushback and public outrage against efficient appliances dating back to the 1980s. Reagan actually vetoed the National Appliance Energy Conservation Act, saying it restricted the freedom of choice available to consumers who would be denied the opportunity to purchase low-cost appliances, the year before he signed it. In a 1996 episode of Seinfeld, Jerry, Kramer, and Newman were so fed up with the new low-flow showerheads in their building, they resorted to buying black-market Yugoslavian models from the back of a truck. Another culture war brewed over energy-efficient LED light bulbs in the 2010s as older, incandescent models began to be phased out, with Tea Party Republicans declaring that light bulb choice was a matter of personal liberty. President Donald Trump speaks to workers at a Whirlpool manufacturing facility in 2020, in Clyde, Ohio. [Photo: Scott Olson/Getty Images] Matthew Burgess, an environmental economist at the University of Wyoming, said that efficiency rules are most likely to become a cultural flashpoint when people see them directly affecting their lives. People do notice the flow of their showerheads, he said. People do notice whether their stove is gas or electric. Some of the political tension over appliances resulted from ambitious changes, he said, such as when Berkeley, California, tried to ban gas connections in new buildings in 2019.
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E-Commerce
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